dream a little dream of me
by 1oooyears
Summary: In midst of dying, Caroline is thrown back to a time of pastel dresses and swing music. - "You have an interesting taste in women, Damon." / caroline centric.


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**dream a little dream of me - **In midst of dying, Caroline is thrown back to a time of pastel dresses and swing music. - "You have an interesting taste in women, Damon."

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_Caroline? What- CAROLINE?!_

_Care!_

_Come on, don't die, come on, Caroline, live, come on._

_No!_

Her eyes are heavy, eyelashes thick, and as she stands, brushing her blood-soaked jeans, she looks at her pastel-print surroundings, cookie-cutter houses being her welcoming grace.

Her eyes roam over the ensembles of passers by, many glancing her way, before scoffing and moving along. She wonders when the residents of Mystic Falls got so _snooty, _and when they began wearing colourful dresses, and something _other _than leather.

She picks at her bloodied shirt, a wide stain right where her heart is.

Walking to a paper boy, who looks at her, with something akin to fear, she holds out her hand, and he gives it to her, his fear permeating in the air. "Miss, are- are you okay?"

She looks down at the pale boy and smiles - which wouldn't be so bad, if she wasn't a cold blooded predator, and his instincts tell him to _R U N._

"I'm okay, but I would feel a lot better if I could," she smiles, "check something, so?"

He hands her the paper, and when she frowns, he takes it back with glassy eyes.

She pats him on the head, wiping her hands on her pants afterwards. "Thanks," she finishes awkwardly, "really." She walks away, her heels click-clacking as she does.

He exhales heavily, _women these days, _he visibly frowns, _and wearing such tight pants too. Must be uncomfortable._

_._

Caroline shimmies to a darker alley, and sits on a wobbly box, surveying the dark area, she debates feeding, because she is very far from her home, and not just in distance either.

She looks down at her watch, a gift from Elena, _to Caroline Forbes, my-_

She stops-

-and facepalms.

_Elena's mother isn't even born yet, _because yes, a very bloodied, battered and confused Caroline is stuck in a faraway time of hazy sight and heavy sexism, _and in good pants too._

FML.

So, with a heavy head, and thick lips frowning, she continues to debate feeding.

_Are there hunters? Are there other vampires? Does the council still exist? _Yeah, this is making her head hurt.

_Liquor then?_

She smiles, "definitely."

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Damon likes Mystic Falls because even if it's _home _and even if it has his beloved baby brother, and it always has **some **other supernatural creature on the prowl, it seems to repeat itself, to go over lives once lived, like an old women with her empty hearted memories, and photographs.

So, when he sees this girl with thick tight pants, and fierce curls, and dark make-up who smells rather strange, he is _very _confused, but worse, _she smells distinctly of vampire. _So, he smiles because, one, he could use a good lay, and two, a woman in _pants _is a sight worth laughter, pah. That and any rebel woman is a woman after his own heart, you can say so much looking at his track-record.

Sauntering up to her, he smirks as her back freezes up and hand mid-lift-of-drink, stills, before she continues. He audibly chuckles before sliding into the chair beside her.

She turns to him with wide eyes, and open mouth, "Damon Salvatore," he tells her, "as in saviour," he says.

She smiles, "Caroline."

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_Caroline!_

_It should've been me, it should have been me!_

_Care!_

_Come on, Blondie, don't die on us now._

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"So, any siblings?" She asks, eyes half closed, as she somewhat sways to the onset of jazz music.

Damon smiles, "Yes," he turns, and coincidently, there is Stefan Salvatore in all his broody glory, "speaking of…" He waves Stefan and Lexi over, watching as Lexi continues to tell Stefan to apologise.

She looks between the two, deciding that she should probably let the brothers talk, and resolve their problems, you know - brotherly love and all. So, saluting to Damon, and patting his shoulder, she saunters off, Lexi giving her a strange look as she walked away.

_What a strange woman, _Damon thinks.

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_She doesn't - No!_

_It doesn't-_

_She can't die._

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He watches as she savours the kill, and recognising the drift from the high of a feed, to the drop in emotions as you realise what you're doing, he blinks - and in a second, she has him pinned up against a wall, hand tight around his neck. "What are you doing?" Is the hiss that falls from her lips, as her tongue wraps around her bloodied lips.

"Watching," he answers, before throwing her off, and lifting the barely aiive human, raising his bleeding wrist to their mouth, before dropping them to the ground.

"You're a reckless feeder you know."

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"Why do you dress oddly?" He asks, hair in his eyes when he takes of his hat, she smiles, saying something she never though she would say to Damon Salvatore.

"You'll understand when you're older."

His eyebrow twitches because he's definitely older than this girl.

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_Caroline, this is Elena. We love you and-_

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"Stefan Salvatore," he says, tipping his hat, smiling wide, he looks between her and Damon, before addressing his brother, "you have an interesting taste in women, Damon." She looks at her pants and frowns, _they're just pants… _

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She picks at her food slowly, fork in hand, and rolling his eyes, Damon reaches over the table for a breadstick. Then, while smirking, breadstick in mouth he asks, "wanna share?"

She's pretty sure she's screwed.

(because we all know she said _yes_)

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_-we need you._

_Promise you won't leave?_

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"Hey Blondie, get over here!"

In a second she's next to him, smiling when he lifts her up and gives her a hug, she blinks, then speaks. "Huh, where'd you get that one?"

He looks pointedly at her hair, almost confused; "Where do you think?"

She sighs, shaking her head, "right…"

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"Do you think, one day, we can travel the world, just you and me, and maybe Stefan?"

Caroline blinks, because this question comes out of nowhere, and she doesn't know how she can answer it. She looks him up and down (or something close enough, because they're lying down on grass, and looking at the stars, so yeah) and sits up. weighing the question.

She nods, hesitantly, "one day," she says, "one day, you'll get along," she strokes his cheek.

He doesn't understand why she looks like she's going to cry

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"Do you ever wonder about dying?"

Damon chokes on his food, and shakily, the woman under him struggles at his moment of weakness.

Shortly after compelling her, he strides over to his love, confused. "Why?"

She shrugs, "because I've died twice and it still alludes me as to why it's so scary."

This is the last time she asks.

(It isn't the first time, though.)

_("Do you ever wonder about dying?" Caroline asks, eyes wide, and innocent, and when Damon looks at her, he has this intense feeling of deja vu._

_"All the time," he tells her, "I've died once and it still scares me to, well, death," he smirks. He sinks his fangs into her pulsing neck, and relishes the feeling of her wavering heartbeat.)_

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"Do you think we knew each other in another life, you were a princess, I was a rugged criminal," he blinks, pulling her closer, "have you ever thought about that?"

She smiles, in a way that makes him want to pull his hair, "all the time."

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_Care, you can't die. I won't let you die._

_Elena, theres nothing we can-_

_There has to be._

_There isn't, all we can do is hope she wants to come back._

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_"_Caroline, could you stay with me forever?"

Caroline blinks, slowly in, slowly out, breathe once, twice, okay, go. "I don't know…"

His face falls, and his eyes (the ones she loves) narrow in something she recognises as pain, he nods, "good to know where we stand."

When he leaves, the door slams to a shut, and she runs to the bathroom, crying, wailing and despising herself because this feels like 80 years in the future, and she pretty much hates how she can never seem to get things right.

Shakily, she closes her eyes, and then everything goes black.

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Caroline sits up, translucent veins disappearing, slithering into non-existence. She blinks, once, twice, three times, "I'm alive?" Dizzily, shakily, whatever-whatever, she stands, and when she does, she falls afterwards. A shocked Bonnie appearing by the doorway, looking oh-so-very frazzled and distraught (and geez, how many adjectives must she use in one minute!). She takes in red rimmed eyes, and her messy surroundings, deducing that she _was _dead, and Bonnie must have brought her back.

"Caroline?"

Bonnie runs at the vampire, aching feet forgotten, sniffles downgraded, and embraces the blonde in a hug.

"You're alive! I was - _we were,_ so worried and oh god, I'm just, I'm so happy!"

Caroline smiles, and she has never felt so loved, and yet theres this horrible ache in her sides and in her heart - and part of her wants _Damon, her Damon,_ and pastel dresses and leather jackets and god, was that all made up?!

When suddenly, Damon appears by the hallway, before zipping towards her, shoving Bonnie away, pulling her close, and kissing her with everything she has.

(_Good to know, did not have a coma dedicated to an ex-boyfriend and his pastel printed past. _She thinks vaguely.)

When he pulls her close enough he whispers something in her ear; "forever?"

She nods in agreement, "forever."

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End file.
